The new division will be led by Marc Whitten, former CEO of self-driving car company Cruise, who Meta has hired as vice president of robotics, Bosworth noted in the memo. He also mentioned that John Koryl has been hired as vice president of retail. Koryl, previously CEO of The RealReal, will help expand Meta’s direct-to-consumer sales of products like the Quest mixed reality headsets and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which Meta makes with EssilorLuxottica.
Meta to compete with Tesla
Meta plans to develop its own humanoid robot hardware, initially focusing on household chores, while also aiming to create the AI, sensors, and software that can power robots made by various companies, Bloomberg reported. The tech giant has begun discussions with robotics firms like Unitree Robotics and Figure AI but does not plan to launch its own branded robot right away.